Just the right words to tell
by Toma0613
Summary: Kageyama has to write a message to Sugawara for his graduation , but doesn't know the right words for his last message. A light Kagesuga story from Kageyama's point of view.


It was on graduation day.

After the ceremony, we gathered in the clubhous, and threw a little farewell party for those leaving school. A short speech was given from the four, and the juniors gave out message cards and presents. Cake and snack was being served when Sugawara-san called out my name.

"Hey Kageyama." I turned around. A pair of furrowed eyebrows. Uh oh, not a good sign.

"Isn't your message...a bit...well, too short?"

In his hand was the message card from the 1st years. Gulp.

"What does it say?" Tanaka-san yelled. Before I could say a word, he jumped across the room to Sugawara-san's side. The message, now in Tanaka-san's hand, was read out loud for everyone to hear.

"Let's see...Ah, ''Thank you for everything. Tobio Kageyama.' ...What? Is THAT it? Are you serious?" Nishinoya-san and Tsukishima burst into laughter. I felt my face go red, but couldn't say a word. ...Well, because that really was 'it'.

"Er...that really is... a bit short," Yamaguchi with his worried eyes.

"Oi, Kageyama!" Why the hell did Hinata look puzzled?

"Or maybe our highness didn't have enough brain to write anything down." Tsukishima you bastard.

"Stop it, Tsukishima. I mean, Kageyama's written fine on mine."

"Yeah, I never expected him to write this much! No offence or anything..."

"Sorry Suga, but mine too."

Now the seniors were all checking to see what I wrote for each of them. They seemed happy with my message, not Sugawara-san.

"I guess there wasn't anything special to write for Sugawara-san, huh? Not much to remember about Sugawara-san?" he said as if he was mocking me, enjoying it even. But in his eyes, I catched a hint of sadness. It was my fault. I swallowed hard.

"No." There was a surprise in his eyes now.

"No. That's not why." My rather serious tone had hushed the whole room. I ignored and continued.

"It wasn't because I didn't have anything to write about you. And It's not because I don't remember or that nothing occurred to me. You...you really mean a lot to me, Sugawara-san. It's just that I…"

It's just that I didn't know how to shape it into words.

When Yachi-san gave me the message card, I felt that I had so much to write. And for the first three, I did. I thanked the Captain for letting me join the team, and how it wasn't for his leadership we wouldn't have made it to the nationals. I described to Azumane-san how I looked up to him, and told Shimizu-san that her support was essential for the players. Words rushed from my pen...Until I came to the last one; Sugawara-san's. I laid it in front of me, just like everyone else's with a pen in my hand. However, unlike the last three, which went pretty smoothly, I couldn't start at all. Ten minutes passed, and I finally realized I didn't know what to tell him.

Throughout that day, I thought about the message. I did sleep through grammar after lunch, but other than that, that was all I was thinking about until practice. After getting home, I took out that card again. The more I thought about it, the more it came to me that this was going to be my last message to him.

Last message. What did I want to tell him? Should it be about what he taught me? Or how I respect him? I knew I was never good with words, but not this bad.

"Shit." It was already 40 minutes past my usual bedtime. I groaned and decided to call it a night.

〜

The next day, during lunch, I went to the clubroom to escape from all the noise.

I sat by the window with the card in my hand.

I sighed.

It wasn't that nothing occurred to me about Sugawara-san. In fact, I've learned a lot in a year.

Sugawara-san.

A brilliant setter and the trusted sub captain of Karasuno.

His uniform number is 2, and he likes super spicy food.

He's good at looking after the juniors, but messes around with us so often, it makes the captain roll his eyes.

He has great control over set and serve, and the teammates rely on that.

He seemed to be studying a lot outside of practice (which I have no idea how he manages to do), and has the best grades in the team.

He smiles a lot but when you look at them carefully, they are always a little different. Big smiles to cheer us up, slight grins when he's planning to play tricks on someone. He sometimes shows awkward smiles, especially when I ask him to teach me something. I've seen sad smiles too, like that one face he made when I was setting a ball for Hinata in the summer, or on the last day of practice at Karasuno High. Speaking of which, he was smiling and crying at the same time after our game against Kamomedai. Although I couldn't catch any sadness or regret from him then.

All sorts of moments with Sugawara-san revived inside me, but no matter how hard I stared at the card, it remained blank. I snorted to myself thinking maybe I shouldn't have slept through grammar after all.

For Miyagi in March, the temperature was high. The sun shone straight from the window, making my eyelids drop. Spring was almost there, and graduation was only few days away.

〜

"Kageyama?" After a while, a voice jerked me awake. I turned around to see it was Yamaguchi. Letting out a yawn and I asked him, "Is lunch time over?"

"...Um, it's almost 3PM." The clock on the wall showed the same time. So I guess I've missed the whole afternoon.

"Sorry I woke you. Were you working on the messages?"

"Yeah."

Nodding, he put down his bag and spoke as he changed into his Karasuno uniform.

"I can't believe the seniors are actually graduating. I mean, I'm still not even used to our practice without the seniors!" 2 months had passed since their retirement, but I agreed. We had to build a new strategy for the team from almost scratch.

"I'm not saying the 2nd years aren't good enough, don't mistake me." I nodded to Yamaguchi. the almost-senior-to-be 2nd years were great with their leadership.

"To tell the truth, I didn't know what to write for the message. Tsukki told me mine was too long," he shrugged. Right, it was always Tsukishima about this guy.

"He said I should write only what I had to say to them. Not babble on about everything I wanted to tell them."

What I had to tell.

"That's it!"

"W-What's it?"

"Thanks Yamaguchi."

The practice time was fast approaching, so I quickly wrote down the words in strong strokes. It was short and obviously deficient, but I knew nothing would be enough. And this was something I had to tell Sugawara-san. No matter what.

Just as I was starting to regret leaving the message 'a bit too short', Sugawara-san slapped my back.

"Hey, don't make a face like that!" I looked at him sheepishly.

"Come to think of it, maybe this is the Kageyama I know the best." His face turned into a smile. And this time, there wasn't any sadness behind it. It was the one he wore when he was satisfied.

"About what you said, I believe you," beaming to me.

"That er… you don't think I'm nothing to you," he scratched his head, chuckling that it was embarrassing to say it for himself.

"And you know what? I'm grateful that you came to Karasuno, that you joined the team. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be what I am now, I guess. So…my turn. Thank you." I went red for the second time today.

"Good for you Kageyama!" Everyone in the room broke into applause and hooted.

"Aww...but I was looking forward to what Kageyama would write to me!"

"Sorry..."

"I guess I'll have to wait for you to tell me the real reason behind that super short message," Sugawara-san grinned as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"W-Wait..now?" I blinked. Gosh, that's going to take a lot of time.

"Nah, someday." Someday. That sounded nice.

"Here, give me your phone," he said suddenly.

"Um, OK." I fished out my flip phone from the pocket and handed it to Sugawara-san. He opened it and faced the screen toward us.

"Cheese!" With a cheap click sound, the device took our picture.

"Suga-san, that's not fair!"

"Let us in!"

"Ah ha! See, Asahi? I'm everyone's favorite. I bet I can beat Tekachu's popularity. All right guys, gather around!"

In the end, I didn't get a chance to tell him what I had in my mind at all that day.

That I learned a lot about him in just a year.

That not only did I respect him, but liked practicing with him.

That I wanted to know what he was thinking when he told me there was every reason to have come to Tokyo that day.

That I'll miss him.

I guess I'll tell him all about it someday, as Sugawara-san said.

It might take years, but when I find the right words, I will.


End file.
